Consulting

As part of Impruve's growth & learning flywheel, in certain cases we roll up our sleeves for consulting engagements with clients. Rooted in time dedicated by our CEO Mike Shannon (odd story background below) and coupled at times with our networks of elite operators, we provide a range of services, including:
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GTM engine fine-tuning
1-1 Coaching for Founders & Rising Executives
Execution Leak Analysis
North Star Execution Design
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Full engagement or not, we offer a pro bono Retrospective Workshop facilitated by CEO Mike Shannon, who has conducted hundreds of Retrospectives across 10+ years as a company builder. The format is:

You will simply:
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1. Pick your topic 
2. Define the date range (typically, no longer than 1 year) 
3. Decide the stakeholders involved. 

We then: 

1. Provide each participant with a 5 minute prep exercise that can be done by voice while walking around the block (recommended) 
2. Synthesis the collection of responses into a preparatory report that serves as the foundation for the workshop. 
3. Facilitate a live workshop via Zoom. 
4. Generate a post-Retrospect report that clarifies your forward North Star, identifies Execution Leak vulnerabilities, and refines your “best game” system of operating.

I have an odd story...

$0 - $20m ARR & successful exit is the headline of my past decade as a founder before Impruve, but the path of getting there forged a treasure trove of tactics & perspectives to pull from in helping others to efficiently attack their North Star.

In 2011, months before founding my first company, I thought my path was set to go to work in the NBA; game film analytics was my most likely entry point. At the time, I was working 70+ hour weeks for the world’s most famous elite performance trainer, Tim Grover, along with renowned NBA skill coaches Joe Boylan, Mike Procopio, and others.

Then, my path changed as a few college pals and I launched a company and were blessed with early mentorship from some of the most successful company builders in the country.

At age 23, we did a deal with Mark Cuban on Shark Tank. Graced the cover photo of Crain’s at 25. Then, oops, that company hit a brick wall and failed, with a hundred+ investors’ capital on the line.

We pivoted. Navigated "Survival Mode." Beat it.

The resulting comedy book aside (Q1 2025 release upcoming), we then built a GTM engine for what became higher ed’s leading writing practice tool, in a complicated sales motion serving PhD clientele.

Grew it to $20m ARR, sold the company as a top tier ed-tech investor ROI, and in 2024 that company (Packback) was named one of Time Magazine’s Top Ed-Tech Companies in the World.

Throughout that process, I grew from another one of a kind coach: six years of intensive 1-1 training with the now-President & Head Coach of Heroic, Michael Balchan. Coach Balchan whipped me into an efficiency machine, and the learnings translated across my executive team & company.

The clash of those two worlds – elite performance training meets SaaS GTM scaling – formed the basis of Impruve’s product design philosophy and thus the mentality with which we vet consulting engagements.

When I’m not heads down on Impruve, or wrestling my two young children, I’m interviewing & studying the methods of renowned company leaders via “Opening the C-Suite.” It's learning curation project that my former board member, Corey Ferengul (3X CEO, Investor, Board Director) and I launched with the intention of gathering the best practices across top operators and dissecting the challenges faced by their growing companies and leadership team.

So, should we roll up our sleeves together? To get started, I’m offering pro bono Retrospective Workshops to qualified clients. Sign up today by emailing Mike@impruve.com, and let’s attack your North Star together.